Omnipresent Watcher: The Eye Of The Multiverse

CH1XVI: Inescapable Loop

XVI. Inescapable Loop

As they trudged forward, the air around them began to shimmer, warping as if the very fabric of reality was being twisted. Caerus and Heid could feel it—their bodies pulling in two directions at once, as if being drawn toward something yet simultaneously pushed back.

“I’m dizzy,” Heid groaned, rubbing his temples. “Didn’t we just pass this tree?”

Caerus slowed his pace, his sharp eyes scanning their surroundings. “You’re right. I think we’re stuck in a loop,” he replied, his voice tinged with frustration. “The flow of time and space here... it’s stagnant. It’s like we’re walking in circles, but the mountain is making it feel endless.”

He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. The strange sensation at the back of his mind—a pulling and pushing—became more pronounced. There was something distorting their reality, something invisible yet powerful.

“The atmosphere… it’s almost like it’s pressing in on us, distorting everything,” Caerus muttered, glancing behind them, where the landscape seemed to ripple as if underwater.

“So what do we do?” Heid asked, scanning the area, trying to sense the source of the distortion.

Caerus closed his eyes for a moment, tuning into the divine energy within himself. His wings unfurled slightly, and a soft glow surrounded him as he focused on the strange pull of the loop. He realized this wasn’t just a spatial anomaly—it was an illusion, a magical trap designed to keep them from reaching the Tree of Truth.

“There’s magic at play here, powerful magic,” Caerus said, opening his eyes. “The mountain is trying to stop us by trapping us in this loop. It’s warping reality, making us think we’re moving forward when we’re not.”

Heid frowned, thinking hard. “Okay, but how do we break it?”

His mind raced back to the lessons he'd learned at the Collegium—magic often had a source, an anchor. If they could find the source, they could break free.
“We have to break through the illusion. If this is a trap created by magic, it must have a source—something anchoring the spell to this place,” Caerus explained, his mind racing. “We need to disrupt it.”

Heid nodded. “Alright, so how do we find the source?”

Caerus began to pace in a small circle, examining the distortions in the air. “The magic is feeding off our movement. Every step we take strengthens the loop, but if we can anchor ourselves to reality, we can break free.”

Suddenly, an idea struck him. “We’re caught in the loop because we’re moving within its boundaries. If we stop moving—no, if we move against it—we might disrupt the flow.”

“What do you mean, ‘move against it’?” Heid asked, his brow furrowing.

“We walk backwards,” Caerus said simply.

Heid blinked. “You’re joking, right?”

Caerus shook his head. “No, I’m serious. The spell is designed to trap us by feeding off our forward momentum. If we reverse that, we might be able to break the loop.”

Heid sighed but shrugged. “Well, I guess it’s worth a shot.”

Both of them turned, facing the direction they had come from. With cautious steps, they began walking backward, keeping their eyes fixed on the landscape ahead.

At first, nothing seemed to change. The same twisted scenery surrounded them, and the oppressive feeling remained. But then, after several tense moments, the air around them began to shift. The strange pulling sensation started to weaken, and the distortions in the environment slowly faded.

“It’s working,” Caerus said, his voice calm but focused. “Keep going.”

As they continued, the loop unraveled. The path that had once seemed endless now straightened, and the pressure on their bodies eased. The scenery ahead of them changed, revealing a new section of the mountain they hadn’t seen before.

With a sudden, audible pop, the illusion broke. The loop shattered like glass, and the oppressive atmosphere lifted.

Caerus let out a sigh of relief, turning to Heid. “We’re through.”

Heid looked around, grinning. “Not bad, Light. You figured it out.”

Caerus smirked. “Just a matter of looking at things differently.”

The path before them was now clear, though they both knew more challenges lay ahead. Still, they pressed on, with a renewed sense of determination, one step closer to the Tree of Truth.